Rainbow education explanation for children. Everything about the rainbow as a physical phenomenon
Ecology
Many cultures have legends and myths about the power of the rainbow, and people dedicate works of art, music and poetry to it.
Psychologists say that people admire this natural phenomenon because the rainbow is a promise of a bright, “rainbow” future.
Technically speaking, a rainbow occurs when light passes through water droplets in the atmosphere, and the refraction of light leads to the familiar appearance of a curved arch of different colors to all of us.
Here are these and other interesting facts about rainbows:
7 facts about rainbows (with photos)
1. Rainbows are rarely seen at midday
Most often, rainbows appear in the morning and evening. For a rainbow to form, sunlight must hit a raindrop at an angle of approximately 42 degrees. This is unlikely to happen when the Sun is higher than 42 degrees in the sky.
2. Rainbows appear at night too
Rainbows can be seen even after dark. This phenomenon is called a lunar rainbow. In this case, light rays are refracted when reflected from the Moon, and not directly from the Sun.
As a rule, it is less bright, since the brighter the light, the more colorful the rainbow.
3. No two people can see the same rainbow.
Light reflected from certain raindrops reflects off other raindrops from a completely different angle for each of us. This also creates a different image of the rainbow.
Since two people cannot be in the same place, they cannot see the same rainbow. Moreover, even each of our eyes sees a different rainbow.
4. We can never reach the end of the rainbow
When we look at a rainbow, it seems as if it moves with us. This happens because the light that forms it does so from a certain distance and angle for the observer. And this distance will always remain between us and the rainbow.
5. We can't see all the colors of the rainbow
Many of us remember a rhyme from childhood that allows us to remember the 7 classic colors of the rainbow (Every hunter wants to know where the pheasant sits).
Everyone is red
Hunter - orange
Wishes - yellow
Know - green
Where is blue
Sitting - blue
Pheasant – purple
However, the rainbow is actually made up of more than a million colors, including colors that the human eye cannot see.
6. Rainbows can be double, triple and even quadruple
We can see more than one rainbow if light is reflected inside the droplet and separated into its component colors. A double rainbow appears when this happens inside the drop twice, a triple rainbow when it happens three times, and so on.
With a quadruple rainbow, each time the beam is reflected, the light, and therefore the rainbow, becomes paler and therefore the last two rainbows are very faintly visible.
To see such a rainbow, several factors must coincide at once, namely a completely black cloud, and either a uniform distribution of the size of raindrops, or heavy rain.
7. You can make the rainbow disappear yourself
Using polarized sunglasses can stop you from seeing rainbows. This is because they are covered with a very thin layer of molecules that are arranged in vertical rows, and the light reflected from the water is polarized horizontally. This phenomenon can be seen in the video.
How to make a rainbow?
You can also make a real rainbow at home. There are several methods.
1. Method using a glass of water
Fill a glass with water and place it on a table in front of a window on a sunny day.
Place a piece of white paper on the floor.
Wet the window with hot water.
Adjust the glass and paper until you see a rainbow.
2. Mirror method
Place the mirror inside a glass filled with water.
The room should be dark and the walls white.
Shine a flashlight into the water, moving it until you see a rainbow.
3. CD method
Take the CD and wipe it down so that it is not dusty.
Place it on a flat surface, under a light or in front of a window.
Look at the disk and enjoy the rainbow. You can spin the dial to see how the colors move.
4. Haze method
Use a water hose on a sunny day.
Close the hole in the hose with your finger, creating a haze
Point the hose towards the sun.
Look through the haze until you see a rainbow.
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Introduction
Relevance of the work
In the summer, I often went with my parents to the garden, which is located outside the city. One evening, we were sitting and having dinner on the street, suddenly clouds gathered and rain began to pour down. We hid under a canopy and watched the surrounding nature. It smelled of wet earth and grass, and the air became clean and fresh. And then the rain subsided, in some places blue gaps appeared in the sky, the sun's rays slipped through them. And suddenly, a multi-colored arc spread across the entire sky, like a huge gate in the sky. Not just one, but two! We were all very happy and began to admire and photograph the double rainbow. But the rainbow did not delight us with its beauty for long.
Rainbow is one of the most beautiful natural phenomena. She brings so much joy to both children and adults. Her appearance evokes positive emotions and lifts people's spirits. Konstantin Dmitrievich Ushinsky has a fable “The Sun and the Rainbow”. “Once after the rain the sun came out, and a seven-color arc of a rainbow appeared. Whoever looks at a rainbow, everyone admires it. The rainbow became proud and began to boast that it was more beautiful than the sun itself. The sun heard these speeches and said: “You are beautiful - that’s true, but without me there won’t be a rainbow.” And the rainbow just laughs and even praises itself. Then the sun got angry and hid behind a cloud - and the rainbow was gone.” So is it really possible for a rainbow to appear without the sun? Why doesn't a rainbow happen in sunny weather without rain, or in rainy weather without sun?
Today, not every person can explain the appearance of a rainbow. Where does a rainbow come from? Why do her colors appear in a certain order? Why is there a double rainbow? Is it possible to get a rainbow artificially, for example, at home? To answer all these questions, I decided to conduct my own research.
Research hypotheses:
Rainbows appear in nature only on sunny and rainy days;
You can get a rainbow at home using an artificial light source.
Purpose of the work:
Find out the reason for the appearance of a rainbow.
Tasks:
Define a rainbow;
Find out the conditions for the appearance of rainbows in nature;
Find out how many colors a rainbow has and what the solar spectrum is;
Find out what rainbows are;
Try to get a rainbow at home in different ways.
Object of study: rainbow
Research methods :
Studying specialized literature and Internet sources;
Conducting experiments on obtaining a rainbow at home, using an artificial light source;
Analysis of the results obtained.
2. Theoretical material
2.1. What is a rainbow?
There are several theories explaining its origin. According to one of them, radoga is derived from the Proto-Slavic root radъ, the meaning of which is similar to the Anglo-Saxon rot (joyful, noble).
Some language researchers are inclined to assume that the word "rayduga", as this word is pronounced in a number of dialects of the modern Russian language, has a folk etymology, formed as a result of the merger of the words "paradise" and "arc". It sounded the same way in Russian in the 17th and 18th centuries. In this case, rainbow literally means “variegated arc.”
In Slavic myths and legends, the rainbow was considered a magical heavenly bridge from heaven to earth, a road along which angels descend from heaven to collect water from rivers. They pour this water into the clouds, and from there it falls as life-giving rain.
I read the meaning of the word “rainbow” in various dictionaries:
"Rainbow - a multi-colored arc on the vault of heaven, formed due to the refraction of sun rays in raindrops" (Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary). "Rainbow- a multi-colored arc in the sky. Observed when the Sun illuminates a curtain of rain located on the opposite side of the sky from it. Explained by the refraction, reflection and diffraction of light in raindrops.” (Modern explanatory dictionary. Astronomical dictionary).
So, I found out that a rainbow is a multi-colored arc in the sky, formed due to the refraction of sun rays in raindrops.
2.2. The reason for the appearance of the rainbow
Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher, tried to explain the reason for the appearance of the rainbow. He determined that "a rainbow is an optical phenomenon, not a material object." Aristotle theorized that rainbows arise from the unusual reflection of rays of sunlight from clouds.
The phenomenon of rainbows was explained by the refraction of sunlight in raindrops in 1267 by Roger Bacon.
The first to understand the cause of the rainbow was the German monk Theodoric from Freiberg, who in 1304 recreated it on a spherical flask with water. However, Theodoric's discovery was forgotten.
An attempt to explain the rainbow as a natural phenomenon was made in 1611. Archbishop Antonio Dominis. His explanation of the rainbow was contrary to the Bible, so he was excommunicated and sentenced to death. Antonio Dominis died in prison before his execution, but his body and manuscripts were burned.
A scientific explanation of the rainbow was also given by the French philosopher, mathematician, and mechanic Rene Descartes in 1637. Descartes explained the rainbow based on the laws of refraction and reflection of sunlight in raindrops. At that time, the decomposition of white light into a spectrum during refraction had not yet been discovered. That's why Descartes' rainbow was white.
The founder of the seven-color rainbow was Isaac Newton, who revealed the reason for the appearance of the rainbow.
2.3. Refraction of rays. Spectrum
Back in 1666, Isaac Newton proved that ordinary white light is a mixture of rays of different colors. “I darkened my room,” he wrote, “and made a very small hole in the shutter to let in the sunlight.” In the path of the sun's ray, the scientist placed a special triangular piece of glass - a prism. On the opposite wall he saw a multi-colored strip - a spectrum. Newton explained this by saying that the prism split white light into its component colors. Newton was the first to realize that the sun's rays are multicolored.
Rainbow is the most famous, well-known spectrum. When it rains, there is a huge amount of water droplets in the air. Each drop of rain plays the role of a tiny prism. The sun's rays that pass through raindrops, as if through prisms, are refracted in the raindrops. As a result of the decomposition of light rays, a large curved spectrum appears - a strip of colored lines and is reflected on the opposite side of the sky. When it rains, there is a huge amount of water droplets in the air. And since there are many of them, the rainbow turns out to be half the sky.
Let's trace the path of the beam passing through the drop. Having refracted at the boundary of the drop, the beam enters the drop and reaches the opposite boundary. Part of the beam, having refracted, leaves the drop, part again goes inside the drop to the next boundary. Here again, part of the beam, having refracted, comes out of the drop, and some part goes through the drop, and so on. Each white ray, refracted in a drop, is decomposed into a spectrum, and a beam of diverging colored rays emerges from the drop.
There are seven colors in the solar spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
2. 4. Colors of the rainbow
And now in more detail about the colors of the solar spectrum or the rainbow. Research has shown that the human eye can distinguish 160 shades of color. This happens because there is no clear boundary between colors; one color passes into another through all shades. The main colors of the rainbow are red, yellow and blue. From them you can get all the other colors of the rainbow. The colors observed in a rainbow alternate in the same sequence as in the spectrum obtained by passing a beam of sunlight through a prism. In this case, the inner (facing the Earth's surface) extreme region of the rainbow is colored violet, and the outer extreme region is red.
Sometimes as many as 2, 3, 4 rainbows are visible in the sky - one of them is very bright, the second is paler. This means that the sun's ray is reflected twice in the water drops. At the same time, in another rainbow, the colors of the stripes are arranged in the reverse order - the upper part of the arc is purple, and the lower is red. Second rainbows are formed due to the double reflection of sunlight within raindrops.
Rainbow colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. There are also many shades between these colors, so there is no clear transition from one color to another. The colors of the rainbow are arranged in strict sequence. To better remember their sequence, people came up with the following phrase: “ TO every ABOUT hunter AND wants Z nah, G de WITH goes F adhan." The first letters of words are used to remember colors. The outer edge of the arch is usually red, and the inner edge is purple.
Rainbows have always been seen differently in different periods of history and in different peoples. It distinguished three primary colors, and four, and five, and as many as you like. The Rainbow Serpent of the Australian Aborigines was six-colored. Some African tribes see only two colors in the rainbow - dark and light. So where do the seven colors in the rainbow come from? As I reported earlier, only Newton thought of analyzing light. And, first, he counted five colors. Subsequently, having seen another color (orange), he considered it a theological obsession (the number 6 was devilish for him), trying to create a correspondence between the number of colors in the spectrum and the number of basic tones of the musical scale. Newton added one more to the six listed colors of the spectrum - indigo. Indigo is a variety of violet color, intermediate between dark blue and violet. The name comes from the indigo plant, native to India, from which the corresponding dye was extracted and used to dye clothes. Thus Newton became the father of the seven-color rainbow.
The division of the spectrum into seven colors took root, and the following memorization appeared in the English language - Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain (In - for blue indigo). And over time, they forgot about indigo and there were six colors. American children are taught the six primary colors of the rainbow. English (German, French, Japanese) too. But it's even more complicated. In addition to the difference in the number of colors, there is another problem - the colors are not the same. The Japanese, like the British, believe that there are six colors in the rainbow. And they will be happy to name them for you: red, orange, yellow, blue, indigo and violet. Where did the green go? Nowhere, it’s simply not in the Japanese language. The Japanese, when rewriting Chinese characters, lost the green character (it exists in the Chinese language). The British will agree with the Japanese on the number of colors, but not on the composition. The English do not have blue in their language. And if there is no word, then there is no color. American orange is by no means our orange, but often rather red (in our understanding). By the way, in the case of hair color, on the contrary, red is a red color.
2.5. Unusual Rainbows
During the research, I learned that there are different rainbows on earth, but the most common one is an ordinary rainbow. There are many other optical phenomena known to occur for similar reasons or appear to appear. Let's look at what rainbows are.
Lunar (night)
Rainbows can also be seen at night under the light of the moon. A lunar rainbow (also known as a night rainbow) is a rainbow created by the moon. A lunar rainbow is comparatively paler than a normal rainbow. This is explained by the fact that the Moon reflects less light from the Sun than the Sun shines during the day. A lunar rainbow is visible when the night star is very bright - the Moon. At night, when the full, definitely full moon hangs high in the dark, necessarily dark, sky and at the same time it is raining opposite the moon, you may be lucky enough to see a night rainbow! And she will also seem white to us. Although in fact it is multi-colored.
Hazy (white) rainbow
A white or misty rainbow is a rainbow that appears as a wide, brilliant white arc. A fog rainbow appears when the sun's rays illuminate a faint fog consisting of very small droplets of water. Why does the rainbow seem white to us? The point is the size of the droplets from which the sun's rays are reflected. The sizes of the fog particles are so small that the individual colored stripes into which a sunbeam breaks up when refracted do not spread out to the sides like a wide multi-colored fan, but barely open. The colors seem to overlap each other, and the eye no longer distinguishes colors, but sees only a colorless light arc - a white rainbow. A foggy rainbow can also appear at night during fog, when there is a bright moon in the sky. A foggy rainbow is a rather rare atmospheric phenomenon.
Inverted Rainbow
An inverted rainbow is a fairly rare phenomenon. . Unlike a traditional rainbow, a “smile in the sky” appears in a clear sky, without rain clouds. The sun's rays must illuminate at a certain angle a thin haze-like curtain of clouds at an altitude of 7 - 8 thousand meters. At this altitude, cirrus clouds are made of tiny ice crystals. Sunlight, falling at a certain angle on these crystals, is decomposed into a spectrum and reflected into the atmosphere. An inverted rainbow is much brighter than a normal rainbow, and the colors are in reverse order, from purple to red. But as soon as the order of the crystals is disrupted, the colorful effect disappears, and the “smile in the sky” dissolves.
Double Rainbow
We already know that a rainbow in the sky appears because the rays of the sun penetrate through raindrops, are refracted and reflected on the other side of the sky in a multi-colored arc. And sometimes a ray of sunshine can create two, three, or even four rainbows in the sky at once. A double rainbow occurs when a ray of light is reflected twice from the inner surface of raindrops. The first rainbow, the inner one, is always brighter than the second, the outer one, and the colors of the arcs on the second rainbow are located in a mirror image and are less bright. The sky between rainbows is always darker than other parts of the sky. The area of sky between two rainbows is called Alexander's stripe. Seeing a double rainbow is a good omen - it means good luck and fulfillment of desires. So if you are lucky enough to see a double rainbow, like me, then hurry up and make a wish, and it will definitely come true.
winter rainbow
The most amazing thing is a rainbow in winter! This is very strange and unusual. The frost is crackling, and suddenly a rainbow appears in the pale blue sky. A winter rainbow can only be observed in winter, during severe frosts, when the cold Sun shines in the pale blue sky and the air is filled with small ice crystals. The sun's rays are refracted when passing through these crystals, as if through a prism, and reflected in the cold sky in a multi-colored arc. A ray of sun passes through these crystals, is refracted, as in a prism, and reflected in the sky as a beautiful rainbow.
Ring rainbow
As I explained above, the rainbow itself is round. But we see only part of it in the form of an arc. But under certain circumstances it is possible to see a ring rainbow. This is only possible from a high altitude, for example, from an airplane.
Round-horizontal or fiery rainbow
A round-horizontal or fiery rainbow is formed when sunlight passes through light cirrus clouds and occurs only when the sun is very high in the sky. It turns out that the mysterious heavenly “fire” is born from ice! After all, cirrus clouds are located very high above the earth, where it is very cold at any time of the year, and therefore they consist of flat ice crystals! The sun's rays, passing through the vertical edges of an ice crystal, are refracted and ignite a fiery rainbow or a rounded horizontal arc, as science calls a fiery rainbow. A fire rainbow is a relatively rare and unique phenomenon.
Red
A red rainbow appears in the sky only at sunset and is the last chord of an ordinary rainbow. Sometimes it can be extremely bright and remain visible even 5-10 minutes after sunset. At sunset, rays travel a longer path through the air, and since the refractive index of water for longer wavelength (red) light is less than for shorter wavelength (violet), red light bends less when refracted. When the Sun drops below the horizon, the rainbow first loses its shortest violet waves, they dissipate immediately. Then the blue, cyan, green and yellow waves disappear. The most persistent one remains - the red arc.
3. Practical part
3.1 Own research.
Experiments with producing rainbows at home
I conducted several experiments on obtaining a rainbow under an artificial light source:
Experience No. 1: making a rainbow at home using a CD.
Equipment: CD, light source - flashlight.
I took the CD and, using it to “catch” the light from the flashlight, directed it at the wall. It turned out to be a rainbow. (Appendix No. 1, photos No. 1,2)
Experience No. 2: making a rainbow at home using a mirror, water and a flashlight.
Progress of the experiment:
Filled the glass container with water;
I placed a tilted mirror in the water;
She directed the light of the flashlight onto the part of the mirror immersed in water;
As a result of the refraction of the ray in water and its reflection from the mirror, a rainbow appeared on the cabinet door (Appendix No. 1, photographs No. 3, 4).
Experience No. 3 : Making a rainbow at home using a glass prism and a flashlight. The experience of decomposing light into a spectrum when a white beam of light passes through a prism.
To do this, I took a glass keychain, directed a white beam of light from a flashlight onto it, and got an image of a rainbow on the wall. The light, which seemed white, played on the wall with all the colors of the rainbow. These seven-color, bright rainbow stripes are called the solar spectrum. So I repeated Newton's experiment, but only with an artificial light source . (Appendix No. 1, photos No. 5,6)
Conclusion : You can get a rainbow at home even with the help of an artificial light source.
Experience No. 4: obtaining white color due to the merging of the seven colors of the spectrum, using a seven-color disk and a drill.
If light has seven colors, then seven colors should produce white. I divided the white circle into 7 parts and colored it in rainbow colors. My brother and I attached a multi-colored circle to a drill. Having turned on the drill, we saw that when rotating, the multi-colored disk changed color and became white (Appendix No. 1, photos No. 7,8,9).
Conclusion: light consists of seven colors.
Experience No. 5: making a rainbow using soap bubbles.
I prepared a soap solution and blew a soap bubble. A rainbow appeared on the bubble. Light passing through a soap bubble is refracted and splits into colors, resulting in a rainbow. A soap bubble is a prism. (Appendix No. 1, photos No. 10,11)
Experience No. 6: getting a rainbow on a sunny day using a water hose.
If the sun is shining brightly, there is another surefire way to make a rainbow. But for this you will have to go outside and take a hose and connect it to a water tap. Now all that remains is to pinch the end of the hose so that the water is finely sprayed when it comes out of the hole in the hose, and direct it upward into the sun. We will see a rainbow in the splashes of water. A rainbow can be seen near waterfalls, fountains, against the background of a curtain of drops sprayed by a sprinkler or field sprinkler. (Appendix No. 1, photo No. 12).
Conclusions
While working on the topic: “How does a rainbow appear?”, I achieved the goal of my research work. Now I know the reason why rainbows appear and I was able to create a rainbow at home. It is hypothesized that rainbows appear in nature only on a sunny and rainy day, turned out to be wrong. I found out that a rainbow can appear on a moonlit night (without the sun), during fog (without rain), without rain on a sunny day (inverted and fiery rainbows), and also in winter (without rain) during frost. Of course, the appearance of a rainbow on a sunny and rainy day happens most often, but not only. I found out what the connection is between rain, sun and the appearance of a rainbow. I think that I helped solve the mystery of the sunbeam and gave an explanation of the rainbow as a natural phenomenon. I have experimentally proven that the rainbow effect can be achieved at home and at any time of the year. All assigned tasks have been completed. Now I know when a rainbow appears and how it is formed. Whenever you want to admire a rainbow, I hope that now you can get a rainbow at home. The rainbow is an amazing natural phenomenon, one might say a miracle of nature, which will never cease to amaze us.
5. References
1. I.K. Belkin “What is a rainbow?”, Kvant. - 1984 - No. 12.
2. V.L. Bulat “Optical phenomena in nature” - M.: Education, 1974.
3. A. Bragin “About everything in the world.” Series: Great Children's Encyclopedia.
4. Ya.E. Geguzin “Who creates the rainbow?” - Kvant, 1988
5. V.V. Mayer, R.W. Mayer "Artificial Rainbow." Quantum 1988 - No. 6.
6. “What is it? Who is this? - children's encyclopedia, comp. V. S. Shergin, A. I. Yuryev. - M.: AST, 2007.
7. E. Permyak “Magic Rainbow”, 2008 Publishing house Eksmo
8. Internet sources.
Appendix No. 1
Experience No. 1
Photo No. 1 Photo No. 2
Experience No. 2
Photo No. 4
Photo No. 3
Experience No. 3
Photo No. 5 Photo No. 6
Experience No. 4
Photo No. 7 Photo No. 8 Photo No. 9
Experience No. 5
Photo No. 10 Photo No. 11
Experience No. 6
One of the most amazing phenomena of inanimate nature is the rainbow. She always surprised and amazed with her beauty. Scientists have long speculated about this mysterious effect. As everyone knows, a rainbow in nature accompanies rain, as if accompanying it. Its appearance depends on how the cloud that brought the precipitation moves. It occurs before the rain, during it, or when it has already ended.
What is it?
This is a colored arc with an angular radius of 42°, it can be seen against the background of rain. It is found in the side of the sky that is opposite to the sun. This despite the fact that the sun is not covered by clouds. Very often such conditions are created in the hot season, that is, in the summer, when mushroom rains occur. The center of the rainbow is an antisolar point, diametrically opposite to the Sun. Even small children know that there are seven colors in the rainbow. You can also see it near fountains and waterfalls. She appears against the background of drops.
Where does this mysterious multi-colored light come from? A rainbow in nature is sunlight broken into pieces; it is its source. It moves so that it appears to us to come from that part of the sky that is opposite to the Sun. The features of the rainbow are explained by the Descartes-Newton theory. It was created more than three hundred years ago.
The object that splits a beam of light into its particles is called a prism. If we are talking about the appearance of a rainbow, then drops of rain or water help it. Since they play the role of that very prism. A rainbow in nature is a huge spectrum or band of multi-colored lines that are formed by breaking apart when passing through raindrops.
Colors
The shades are arranged in strict order. It looks, for example, like this: “Every hunter wants to know where the pheasant sits.” Very easy to remember. The first letter in each word corresponds to the name of the color on the rainbow itself:
- Red.
- Orange.
- Yellow.
- Green.
- Blue.
- Blue.
- Violet.
A rainbow in nature appears at a time when the Sun shines along with a stream of rain. To see this magnificent phenomenon, you need to be between the celestial body and, of course, precipitation. Only the Sun should be behind, and the rain should be in front.
Rainbow as a natural phenomenon
This arc, shining with a variety of colors, has always interested primitive peoples. They came up with different stories and fables. For example, the fact that a rainbow opens over the planet, and birds from paradise and soul rest on it. And the Slavs have long believed that a rainbow, as it were, drinks water from lakes, seas and rivers, like a snake, lowering its sting, draws water and lets rain. There is a strange belief that an evil witch will one day steal the celestial arc, and a drought will come on the planet that will destroy all life.
Each country has its own beliefs that tell about national heroes. For example, the Arabs believed that the rainbow was the bow of the god Kuzakh. And after a difficult battle with the dark forces that did not want the Sun to shine in the sky, he hung his weapon on the clouds. Or that a rainbow is a line between the earth and the sky. And the souls who lived in the heights descend along it, visiting our planet. Croatians believe that God teaches women to combine colors correctly using the rainbow, since it contains seven
A little conclusion
Rainbow is a natural phenomenon that amazes with its beauty. For many peoples, it personified a symbol of great success, especially if you were lucky enough to see it double. And if you managed to drive under it or pass through it, then luck will follow you everywhere! And children are very happy when they see nature, so colorful and mystical, inventing their own stories and wonderful, good fairy tales. And most importantly, they unconditionally believe in them and share them with others.
Near-horizontal arc.
Known as the “fire rainbow”. Color stripes appear directly in the sky as a result of light passing through ice crystals in cirrus clouds, covering the sky with a “rainbow film”. This natural phenomenon is very difficult to see, as both the ice crystals and sunlight must be at a certain angle to each other to create the “fire rainbow” effect.
Ghost of Brocken.
In some areas of the Earth you can observe an amazing phenomenon: a person standing on a hill or mountain, behind whom the sun rises or sets, discovers that his shadow falling on the clouds becomes incredibly huge. This happens because tiny drops of fog refract and reflect sunlight in a special way. The phenomenon got its name from the Brocken peak in Germany, where, due to frequent fogs, this effect can be regularly observed.
Near-zenith arc.
A near-zenith arc is an arc centered at the zenith point, located approximately 46 degrees above the Sun. It is rarely visible and only for a few minutes, has bright colors, clear outlines and is always parallel to the horizon. To an outside observer, it will resemble the smile of the Cheshire Cat or an inverted rainbow.
Misty rainbow.
The hazy halo looks like a colorless rainbow. Like a regular rainbow, this halo is formed by the refraction of light through water crystals. However, unlike the clouds that form an ordinary rainbow, the fog that creates this halo consists of smaller particles of water, and the light, refracted in tiny droplets, does not color it.
Gloria.
When light undergoes backscattering (the diffraction of light previously reflected in the water crystals of a cloud), it returns from the cloud in the same direction in which it fell, creating an effect called “Gloria”. This effect can only be observed on clouds that are directly in front of the viewer or below him, at a point that is on the opposite side to the light source. Thus, Gloria can only be seen from a mountain or from an airplane, and the light sources (Sun or Moon) must be directly behind the observer. Gloria's rainbow circles are also called Buddha Light in China. In this photo, a beautiful rainbow halo surrounds the shadow of a hot air balloon as it falls on the cloud below.
Halo at 22 degrees.
White circles of light around the Sun or Moon that result from the refraction or reflection of light by ice or snow crystals in the atmosphere are called halos. There are small water crystals in the atmosphere, and when their faces form a right angle with the plane passing through the Sun, the one observing the effect and the crystals will see a characteristic white halo surrounding the Sun in the sky. So the edges reflect light rays with a deviation of 22 degrees, forming a halo. During the cold season, halos formed by ice and snow crystals on the surface of the earth reflect sunlight and scatter it in different directions, creating an effect called “diamond dust”.
Rainbow clouds.
When the Sun is positioned at a certain angle to the water droplets that make up the cloud, these droplets refract sunlight and create an unusual “rainbow cloud” effect, coloring it in all the colors of the rainbow. Clouds, like rainbows, owe their colors to different wavelengths of light.
Lunar arc.
Dark night skies and the bright light of the Moon often produce a phenomenon called a “lunarbow,” a rainbow that appears in the light of the Moon. Such rainbows are located on the opposite side of the sky from the Moon and most often appear completely white. However, sometimes they can be seen in all their glory.
Parhelion.
“Parhelium” translated from Greek means “false sun”. This is one of the forms of a halo (see point 6): one or more additional images of the Sun are observed in the sky, located at the same height above the horizon as the real Sun. Millions of ice crystals with a vertical surface, reflecting the Sun, form this beautiful phenomenon.
Rainbow.
Rainbow is the most beautiful atmospheric phenomenon. Rainbows can take different forms, but the common rule for all of them is the arrangement of colors - in the sequence of the spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet). Rainbows can be observed when the Sun illuminates part of the sky and the air is saturated with droplets of moisture, for example, during or immediately after rain. In ancient times, the appearance of a rainbow in the sky was given a mystical meaning. Seeing a rainbow was considered a good omen; driving or walking under it promised happiness and success. The double rainbow was said to bring good luck and fulfill wishes. The ancient Greeks believed that the rainbow was a bridge to heaven, and the Irish believed that at the other end of the rainbow was the legendary gold of leprechauns.
Northern lights.
The glow observed in the sky in the polar regions is called the northern, or aurora, as well as the southern - in the Southern Hemisphere). It is assumed that this phenomenon also exists in the atmospheres of other planets, such as Venus. The nature and origin of auroras is the subject of intense research, and numerous theories have been developed in this regard.” Auroras, according to scientists, arise due to the bombardment of the upper layers of the atmosphere by charged particles moving towards the Earth along geomagnetic field lines from a region of near-Earth space called the plasma layer. The projection of the plasma layer along geomagnetic field lines onto the earth’s atmosphere has the shape of rings surrounding the north and south magnetic poles (auroral ovals).”
Condensation trail.
Condensation trails are white streaks left in the sky by airplanes. By their nature, they are condensed fog, consisting of moisture found in the atmosphere and engine exhaust gases. Most often, these traces are short-lived - under the influence of high temperatures they simply evaporate. However, some of them descend into the lower layers of the atmosphere, forming cirrus clouds. Environmentalists believe that the condensation trails of airplanes transformed in this way have a negative impact on the planet’s climate. Thin high-altitude cirrus clouds, which are obtained from modified aircraft trails, prevent the passage of sunlight and, as a result, lower the temperature of the planet, unlike ordinary cirrus clouds, which are able to retain the heat of the earth.
Rocket exhaust trail.
Air currents in high layers of the atmosphere deform the contrails of space rockets, and particles of exhaust gases refract sunlight and paint the contrails in all the colors of the rainbow. Huge multi-colored curls stretch for several kilometers across the sky before evaporating.
Polarization.
Polarization is the orientation of electromagnetic oscillations of a light wave in space. Polarization of light occurs when light strikes a surface at a certain angle, is reflected, and becomes polarized. Polarized light also travels freely through space, just like regular sunlight, but the human eye is generally unable to detect the change in color shades resulting from the increased polarization effect. This image, taken with a wide-angle lens and a polarizing filter, shows the intense blue color the electromagnetic charge gives to the sky. We can only see such a sky through a camera filter.
Star trail.
The “star trail”, invisible to the naked eye, can be captured on a camera. This photo was taken at night, using the camera mounted on a tripod, with the lens aperture wide open and a shutter speed of over an hour. The photograph shows the “movement” of the starry sky - the natural change in the position of the Earth as a result of rotation causes the stars to “move”. The only fixed star is Polaris, which points to the astronomical North Pole.
Twilight rays.
Crepuscular rays are diverging beams of sunlight that become visible due to their illumination of dust in the high layers of the atmosphere. The shadows of the clouds form dark stripes, and rays spread between them. This effect occurs when the Sun is low on the horizon before sunset or after dawn.
Mirage.
The optical effect caused by the refraction of light when passing through layers of air of different densities is expressed in the appearance of a deceptive image - a mirage. Mirages can be observed in hot climates, especially in deserts. The smooth surface of the sand in the distance looks like an open source of water, especially when viewed in the distance from a dune or hill. A similar illusion occurs in the city on a hot day, on the asphalt heated by the rays of the sun. In fact, the “water surface” is nothing more than a reflection of the sky. Sometimes mirages show entire objects located at a great distance from the observer.
Pillars of light.
Flat ice crystals reflect light in the upper atmosphere and form vertical columns of light, as if emerging from the earth's surface. Light sources can be the Moon, the Sun or artificial lights.
And this phenomenon, which the inhabitants of the island of Madeira, in the Atlantic Ocean, once observed, defies any classification.
We have all repeatedly seen such an amazing and fascinating natural phenomenon - a rainbow. How does it arise, due to which a huge seven-color arc appears in the sky? Let's take a closer look at the essence of the rainbow as an atmospheric and natural phenomenon.
What is a rainbow as a natural phenomenon?
Rainbow is one of the most beautiful natural phenomena that is usually observed after rain. Rainbows are visible after rain because the sun illuminates many water droplets in the Earth's atmosphere. In shape, a rainbow is a semicircle or arc made up of seven colors of the spectrum - a multi-colored stripe. The higher the viewing point of a rainbow, the fuller and richer it is: for example, from the height of an airplane you can even see the full circle that the rainbow describes. There is one natural pattern: when you observe a rainbow arc, the sun is always located behind you.
How and why does a rainbow appear?
A rainbow is primarily a physical phenomenon, which is based on the interaction of light and water. Sunlight is refracted and reflected by water droplets that float in the atmosphere. Drops reflect or deflect light in different ways. An observer who stands with his back to the sun (the source of light) sees a multi-colored glow in front of him. This is nothing more than white light, decomposing into a spectrum of seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. But it should be noted that the rainbow, like many physical phenomena, has a peculiarity: seven colors are nothing more than an optical illusion, but in fact the spectrum is continuous, and its colors smoothly transform into each other through many intermediate shades.
Rainbow colors
The colors of the rainbow are familiar to almost everyone thanks to the children's rhyme "Every hunter wants to know where the pheasant sits." It is customary to talk about seven spectral colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. However, the number of colors perceived by the eye also depends on the culture of a particular people and era. Let's look at how different peoples saw rainbow colors.
- For the Russian people, a rainbow is an arc of seven colors.
- For the British and Americans, a rainbow is six colors, since blue and blue are the same color in English.
- Among the Australian Aborigines, the rainbow was associated with six symbolic snakes.
- Some African tribes distinguish only two rainbow colors, or rather, shades - light and dark.
- The great ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle identified only three primary colors: red, purple and green, and their combinations, in his opinion, gave the rest of the colors.
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